At the Barrier Depots we found rather despondent notes from Meares about his progress.  To the Southern Barrier Depot he had uncomfortably high temperatures and a very soft surface, and found the cairns drifted up and hard to see.  At the Middle Barrier Depot we found a note from him dated December 20.  “Thick weather and blizzards had delayed him, and once he had got right off the tracks and had been out from his camp hunting for them.  They were quite well:  a little eye strain from searching for cairns.  He was taking a little butter from each bag [of the three depoted weekly units], and with this would have enough to the next depot on short rations."[255] At the Upper Glacier Depot [Mount Hooper] the news from Meares was dated Christmas Eve, in the evening:  “The dogs were going slowly but steadily in very soft stuff, especially his last two days.  He was running short of food, having only biscuit crumbs, tea, some cornflour, and half a cup of pemmican.  He was therefore taking fifty biscuits, and a day’s provisions for two men from each of our units.  He had killed one American dog some camps back:  if he killed more he was going to kill Krisravitza who he said was the fattest and laziest.  We shall take on thirty biscuits short."[256] Meares was to have turned homewards with the two dog-teams in lat. 81 deg. 15’.  Scott took him on to approximately 83 deg. 35’.  The dogs had the ponies on which to feed:  to make up the deficiency of man-food we went one biscuit a day short when going up the Beardmore:  but the dogs went back slower than was estimated and his provisions were insufficient.  It was evident that the dog-teams would arrive too late and be too done to take out the food which had still to be sledged to One Ton for the three parties returning from the plateau.  It was uncertain whether a man-hauling party with such of this food as they could drag would arrive at the depot before us.[257] We might have to travel the 130 geographical miles from One Ton to Hut Point on the little food which was already at that depot and we were saving food by going on short rations to meet this contingency if it arose.  Judge therefore our joy when we reached One Ton in the evening of January 15 to find three of the five XS rations which were necessary for the three parties.  A man-hauling party consisting of Day, Nelson, Hooper and Clissold had brought out this food; they left a note saying the crevasses near Corner Camp were bad and open.  Day and Hooper had reached Cape Evans from the Barrier[258] on December 21:  they started out again on this depot-laying trip on December 26.

It is a common experience for men who have been hungry to be ill after reaching plenty of food.  Atkinson was not at all well during our journey in to Hut Point, which we reached without difficulty on January 26.

When I was looking for data concerning the return of the Last Supporting Party of which no account has been published, I wrote to Lashly and asked him to meet and tell me all he could remember.  He was very willing, and added that somewhere or other he had a diary which he had written:  perhaps it might be of use?  I asked him to send it me, and was sent some dirty thumbed sheets of paper.  And this is what I read: